Month: March 2009

  • The cultural blender makes a happier you

    Well, it's taken me about an hour to try to get the Xanga editor working so this will be short since I have to leave for work in about a half hour and still have to make something for dinner. Since I've got to work 9 to 6:30 tomorrow, and the book club's after that, I won't have time for posting tomorrow. So tomorrow's holy days will be included today.

    I came across this article today, which somewhat ties into my post yesterday about racism. Basically, they did a study asking college students of mixed race to identify themselves by one of the races of their heritage or as mixed heritage and found that those who identified as mixed, rather than choosing one race to settle under, were better adjusted, happier individuals.

    Well heck, I could have told them that. lol But seriously, I've always found that examining my heritage and all the cultures my ancestors came from has helped me feel more connected to the world at large. So while I may be an American, I truly feel like a citizen of the world and respect all cultures, even those to which I have no physical connection. I think part of the problem with people today is that they feel so disconnected, from nature, from society, from each other. So I would interpret the study as indicating that those who identify as multi-cultural feel that broader connection and it makes them less anxious about where they fit into the broader scheme of things. Basically they fit in everywhere.

    But hey, read the article and decide for yourself. It's pretty interesting despite the dryness of how it's presented.




    March 6th
    (today)

    The brotherhood of Roman warriors, the Salii, dance in honor of Mars in ancient Roman warrior garb. Leaping about, they rhythmically beat their figure-eight shields (ancilia) while holding spears.

    Household gods in Rome are honored today as well. The Manes and Lares are honored at the Compitalia.

    This is the birthday of Laurie Cabot.
    March 7th
    (tomorrow)

    Junonalia is a Roman festival held in honor of Juno. A procession of twenty-seven girls, dressed in long robes sing hymns as they accompany a statue of the goddess carved from cypress wood, her sacred tree.



  • WCFQ 38b: The Same but Different

    Will we ever eliminate racism 100%?
    Why or why not?
    Kaykalee

    Will we ever eliminate racism? That's a hard question and in all honesty, I doubt it.

    It's not that I'm racist or that I think the majority of people are, but racism is just a form of bigotry and there are lots of bigots in the world. Everyone out there has preferences. Racism, sexism, (if we ever meet any aliens... specieism) they're all part and parcel of a learned bias and that's not something we can remove. For instance, one of my friends recently blogged about how she is discriminated against as an engineer because she is a woman. People have an unconscious bias when it comes to men and women, and many of them will defer to a man, assuming he is more knowledgeable than the woman in the same position. How is that fair? They're not purposefully avoiding her, but they just prefer a male engineer.

    People do the same thing with different "races." Asian? Good at math. Irish? Must drink lots. Mexican? Lazy. Black? Likes fried chicken. How true are any of these beliefs? They seem pretty ignorant to me, but I've heard at least one person express these thoughts... sometimes on national tv. Even if we managed to discredit every single ignorant belief in the world, people would just come up with new ones because if there's one thing the human race is good at, it's making assumptions.

    In the end, it doesn't matter how similar we are to one another. Genetically, the difference between you and me, whether you're male or female, black, white, yellow, or red, is really very small, but it is the small differences that people get hung up on. It's the little things that make people hesitate, inventing huge gaps between thee and me, us and them. Do you know that some cultures once thought red haired people were evil? Blue eyes meant you had the evil eye and could curse anything you looked at without even intending it.

    If somehow we were all rendered blind or genetic manipulation became so rampant that every child born looked exactly the same, we would still find something about each other to pick at. So long as we continue to itemize and define things by their qualities, there will be racism. Unfortunately, it's a lot easier to assign things a value based on their differences than their similarities.
    March 5th

    When winter storms lose their force, a ship is dedicated to Isis as a new season of sailing begins. This is the ancient Egyptian festival of Isidis Navigum (the ship of Isis) or the Ploiaphesia which honored Isis' invention of the sail and her patronage of sailing-craft and navigation.

    As part of the festivities, a parade was performed in honor of Isis. Following in a procession of mummers, the priests carry emblems of Isis. The Chief Priest carries a lamp, a golden boat-shaped light with a tall tongue of flame from a hole in the center. The second priest holds an auxiliaria (ritual pot) in each of his hands, and the third carries a miniature palm-tree. The fourth priest carries a model of the left hand with the fingers stretched out, the emblem of justice as well as a golden vessel in the shape of a woman's breast. From the nipple falls a thin stream of milk. The fifth cleric carries a winnowing-fan woven with golden rods, not osiers. The final man, not a priest, carries a wine-jar.

    Next in the procession comes Anubis with a face black on one side and golden on the other and a man carrying a statue of a cow, representing the Goddess as the fruitful Mother of us all. After them walks a priest with a box containing the secret implements of Isis' cult, and another priest carries a secret vessel in his robes. It is a small container of burnished gold with thickly crowded Egyptian hieroglyphics and a rounded bottom, a long spout, and a generously curving handle. Along the handle is an asp raising its head and displaying its throat.

    Waiting at the seashore is a beautifully built ship covered with Egyptian hieroglyphics. The sail is fashioned of white linen inscribed with large letters with a prayer for the Goddess's protection of the shipping lanes during the new sailing season, and the long mast is made of fir. The prow is shaped like the neck of Isis's holy goose, and the long keel is cut from a solid trunk of citrus-wood.

    The ship is purified with a lighted torch, an egg, and sulfur, and then hallowed and dedicated to the Goddess. All present place winnowing-fans heaped with aromatics and other votive offerings on board while pouring milk into the sea as a libation. When the ship is loaded with gifts and prayers for good fortune, the anchor cables are cut, setting the ship free.


    Today is a Japanese Kite festival.




  • WCFQ 38d: Money issues

    If money was no issue, would you work anyway
    or dedicate the majority of your time to
    non work related activities?
    tiffany_anne_co

    What is non work related activities? I'm really not sure. If I had all the money I'd ever need, I'd do a wide variety of things and the funny thing is... they're all work-like. I'd write pretty much whatever and whenever I liked, since I wouldn't necessarily ever have a set bed time or time to wake up. I'd start my own publishing and press company. Because why should I let someone else profit from my artistic expression? In all likelihood, I'd do a lot of charity work. I'd lobby against genetically altered foods and nuclear testing/energy. I'd fund food programs for destitute American citizens. It's nice that we concern ourselves with people in other countries, but there are people going hungry here too. And I'd run for president, because if money were no object, I'm assuming I'd have however much I need to do whatever it is I wanted, including run for president. And then, once I got the office, I'd donate every dollar I made as president to charity since as an independently wealthy person, I wouldn't need payment for my services.

    (Forgive the short post. I am very tired tonight.)




    March 4th

    The three day Greek festival of Anthesteria honors departed souls or keres. It is a festival dedicated to Flora, Hecate, and Dionysus with the intent to "feed" the dead in the hope that the ancestors might bring good fortune to the living and not cause any mischief around living family members.

    The festival begins with flowers, phallic processions, and the opening of the newly fermented bottles of wine. The living ritually purify themselves by bathing and making sacrifice to Dionysus. They slaughter calves and share the meat with the god, incinerating some of the meat that it might float up into the air (the custom for sacrificing to all Olympian gods), and eating the rest of it as a shared feast.

    The major ritual of the festival is the Choe, libations poured for the dead. The living drink wine and eat with the dead, believing that Dionysic revelry is not limited to the living, but that in his Chthonic aspect as the "Lord of Souls," that he grants ecstatic experiences to the dead. It is of importance that the wine and food for the dead and the wine and food for the living never mix. For the food reserved for the dead is just that, not fit for the living. On the last day, visiting spirits are dismissed back to the underworld.



    In 1968, the Church of All Worlds (CAW) formed in Missouri to become the first Wiccan Church to do so in the US.



    On the 19th day of Parmutit, a Feast of Ra occurs in his Barge at Heliopolis.



  • Leg of Lamb

    The Ipod shuffle quiz... put you IPod (or comparable MP3 device) on shuffle and fill in the blanks. (Don't cheat! lol)

    IF SOMEONE SAYS 'ARE YOU OKAY' YOU SAY?
    Way Down the Line -The Offspring (wow, depressing)

    HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
    Evil Ways -Santana (ha!)

    WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
    Where the Streets have no name -U2 (... interesting)

    HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
    Irresponsible -Voltaire (hmm, okay, it's my day off. I can feel this way if I want.)

    WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
    World Go Round -No Doubt (pretty accurate actually)

    WHAT'S YOUR MOTTO?
    We are the Champions -Queen (Well OKAY! lol)

    WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
    Six Shooter -Queens of the Stone Age (Gah! I hope not!)

    WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
    Someone Said Goodbye -Enya (yeah...)

    WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
    Whatever -Godsmack (LOL! hahahaha! The retail worker's motto!)

    WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
    Duck and Run -3Doors Down (hmmmm)

    WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
    Toccata & Fugue  (lol I am the Phantom of the Opera all misanthropic and crap)

    WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
    One Step Closer -as performed by Richard Cheese (WTH?? a comedian apparently lol)

    WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
    Psycho -as performed by the Mannheim Steamroller (OMG LOL hahahaha NICE!)

    WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
    Birthday -The Beatles (Yay! lol Figures this one would show up Somewhere)

    WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
    Pretty Noose -Soundgarden (I can see that...)

    WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
    London Calling -The Clash (apparently... I want to go to London??)

    WHAT DO YOU WANT RIGHT NOW?
    Gasoline -Audioslave (apparently I want to leave...)

    WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
    Harder to Breathe -Maroon 5 (um... )

    WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
    Leg of Lamb -Queens of the Stone Age (okay then!)
    March 3rd

    Aegir, a Teutonic sea god is honored today. He and his Christian counterpart, St. Winnal, control the sea's tide and weather. This day is associated with storms.
    First comes David,
    Next comes Chad,
    Then comes Winnal,
    Roaring mad.



    The Japanese Doll festival, O-Hinamatsuri, is celebrated with paper dolls designed to either draw off illness and evil spirits or to act as representatives of the good attributes people want to draw to themselves. The Girls Festival, Jomi No Sekku or Munakata-no-kami, also occurs today. Most Shinto temples actively participate in the Hina-matsuri, Momo-no-sekku, or Jomi-no-sekku.

    There are mainly three kinds of dolls: the hina, the tachibina (a paper doll and probably the oldest) and also wooden dolls. Every town is decked with dolls, and every doll-shop in Tokyo, Kyoto, and other large cities is gaily decked with O Hina Sama, the whole Japanese Court in miniature. Many hina dolls are family heirlooms, handed down from mothers to daughters for generations. The regular set (Dairi-hina) consists of fifteen dolls: the lord and lady (Dairi-sama), three ladies-in-waiting (Konjo), five musicians, two retainers and three guards. Many modern hina now represent actors, actresses, baseball players, etc.

    Placed beneath the main dolls are various tiny household utensils and furniture, including trays with food bowls, mirrors, musical instruments, boxes, smoking units and many other things. The dolls are offered mochi (rice cakes) dyed in three colors - red, green and white, as well as shirazake, a sweet mild rice wine. New furniture is often added annually. Traditionally, this festival is said to commemorate the birth of the three Muna Katano-Kami, the three daughters of Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess. It is also a favorite day for marriages.



    Rhyfeddod Lleiaf o Rhiannon, the Lesser Mysteries of Rhiannon, begins at sundown and continues till dawn of March 6th. Rhiannon is the Welsh ancestor goddess of the moon and horses. The horse is a shamanic animal symbolic of movement between worlds. Rhiannon is similar to Epona and Mare, two other goddesses of horses. Mare brings dreams and Epona has the power of transformation at her disposal.

    An old Irish custom has it that if fires are lit just before dawn at each corner of a perfect crossroad (according to the cardinal points) before sitting down at the side, you may be able to spy Epona fleeing from the coming sunrise.




  • Writers Choice Featured Questions week 38

    five questions for this week

    unfeatured questions stolen from the featured question chatboard, dated from October of 2007
    Why is there so much hate in the world,
    if humans are supposedly the most compassionate
    of creatures?
    Coleslaw_From_Hell

    What's your favorite weather? Why?
    i_heart_concussions

    Will we ever eliminate racism 100%?
    Why or why not?
    Kaykalee

    If money was no issue, would you work anyway
    or dedicate the majority of your time to
    non work related activities?
    tiffany_anne_co

    What is your ideal life? Safe? Happiness?
    angelina0907


    Answer any one or all of these questions in the coming week. I try to mix the whimsical with the serious here, so hopefully there is at least one question here for everyone.
    March 2nd

    This day is sacred to Ceadda, god of healing springs and holy wells. He is also known as Saint Chad of Lichfield. His symbol is the Crann Bethadh, the tree of life. Honor a holy well today by cleaning it and making an offering of flowers.

    The 17th day of Parmutit in the Egyptian calendar celebrates the Going forth of Seth, Son of Nut.




  • March

    Tattoo
    the webnovel so far...

    Chapter 1: Blood is Thicker
    Chapter 1.1 in which Glory is not mindful of the store
    Chapter 1.2 in which Glory is made to do something she would really rather not
    Chapter 1.3 in which Glory thinks she might be sick
    Chapter 1.4 in which Aaron makes a mistake
    Chapter 1.5 in which Glory is made to see the error of her ways
    Chapter 1.6 in which the circle remains unbroken

    Chapter 2: A Farewell to Arms
    Chapter 2.1 in which Aaron makes another mistake
    Chapter 2.2 in which Glory reflects on her path
    Chapter 2.3 in which we learn Aaron is not really a nice boy
    Chapter 2.4 in which Glory speculates on the holiness of salt
    Chapter 2.5 in which Glory learns of the necessity for upper body strength, but makes do with  what she has
    Chapter 2.6 in which Aaron tries to make amends, but is still pretty much an ass

    Chapter 3: Small Sacrifices
    Chapter 3.1 in which Glory is spat on, twice
    Chapter 3.2 in which a cop is threatened
    Chapter 3.3 in which someone is crying
    Chapter 3.4  in which there's more to the moon than meets the eye
    Chapter 3.5  in which Glory comes face to face with an loony environmentalist
    Chapter 3.6 in which Glory gets turned around
    Chapter 3.7 in which Glory is threatened
    Chapter 4: The Shape of Things to Come
    Chapter 4.1 in which a doctor makes his rounds
    Chapter 4.2 in which Glory is asked some awkward questions
    Chapter 4.3 in which Glory adopts a pet
    Chapter 4.4     in which Glory gets a surprise, but decides she should not have been surprised at all
    Chapter 4.5 in which Glory explains why there are no debts where duty is concerned
    Chapter 4.6 in which a shapeshifter is an enemy to no man
    Chapter 4.7 in which Glory defends Toby's right to make a phone call
    Chapter 4.8 in which the nose knows
    Chapter 4.9 in which good pizza is wasted on a possum
    Chapter 4.10 in which the ruse is discovered and much blood is shed
    Chapter 4.11     in which names are dropped and there is much frustration

    Chapter 5: Of Mice and Men and Other Things
    Chapter 5.1 in which money can't buy happiness
    Chapter 5.2 in which Glory makes herself at home
    Chapter 5.3 in which Glory indulges her passion
    Chapter 5.4 in which Gozala speaks of things stolen
    Chapter 5.5 in which there is a fungus among us
    Chapter 5.6 in which an artifact is examined
    Chapter 5.7 in which the good professor is knocked off his high horse
    Chapter 5.8 in which Glory resolves to guard her property more carefully



    March winds and April showers
    bring forth May flowers.

    March, named for Mars, was the first month of the Greek and Roman calendar. Mars is god of war but also of fertile soil, equivalent to the Greek Ares and Tiu or Tiwazn an old sky god of Europe. He is also equated with the Celtic Teutates and the Norse Tyr. Mars' original name was Mavors. After Jupiter, he is the chief Roman god, often called Marspater, "Father Mars." He has three aspects, the martial god Gradivus, the rustic god Silvanus, and the patron of the Roman state Quirinus. The wolf and the woodpecker are his sacred animals.

    March was called Mi an Mharta or am Mart in Ireland, the seed time, or mi na riaibhche, "the month of the brindled cow, and Hrethmonath, "Hertha's month," by the Anglo-Saxons, honoring the earth mother Hertha or Nerthus. The Frankish name for March was Lentzinmanoth, "renewal month." The Asatru call it Lenting. An old English name for the month, Hlyda, means "loud" and probably refers to the windy beginning of March. This name survived as Lide among the rustic country dwellers for many years.

    Eat Leeks in Lide, and Ramsins (wild garlic) in May,
    And all the year after Physicians may play (be idle).

    The first Full Moon of this month is called the Worm or Sap Moon. More northerly tribes referred to this as the Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signals the end of winter, or the Full Crust Moon because the snow cover becomes crusted from thawing by day and freezing at night.  It shares the names Storm Moon with February and Moon of Winds with April. It may also be referred to as the Moon of the Snowbird or Lenting Moon.

    Pisces and Aries hold power over March, the Zodiac turning to Aries around March 21st. The flower for those born in March is the daffodil and smaller jonquil. Bloodstone or jasper, or sometimes aquamarine, are the jewels for the month of March. Pisces birthstone is the amethyst, while diamond is the stone for Aries. Albite, amethyst, chrysoprase, fluorite, green tourmaline, labradorite, moonstone, and opal are other stones for Pisces, and Aries also lays claim to amethyst, carnelian, garnet, fire agate, pink tourmaline, and topaz.




    March 1st

    This is the first day of the Roman festival of Matronalia, sacred to Juno Lucina. It is the anniversary of the foundation of the temple of Juno Lucina on the Esquiline. In homes throughout the empire, prayers are offered to Juno for a prosperous wedlock and women receive presents from men. Traditional gifts consist of fruit or honey. In the temple of the goddess, flower crowned women and girls pray and bring her pious offerings of flowers. The goddess is represented veiled with a flower in her right hand and an infant in swaddling clothes in her left. Female slaves were free on this day while their mistresses waited on them.

    During the Strenia, the old laurel branches of the old New Year's Day kept before the doors of the rex sacrorum, the great flamines, the curiae, and the temple of Vesta are replaced by new branches. A new fire is lit in Vesta's secret shrine, to mark the rekindled flame of the New Year. This fire can only be rekindled by a burning glass or by the friction of boring a piece of wood from a fruit tree.

    The Salii or Leaping Priests performed a procession in honor of Mars and chanted hymns so archaic that the people of Rome could no longer understand them. They carried shields called ancilia decorated with a figure eight.

    In Greece, a "march thread" was left over night on the rosebush. It was then worn on the wrist or big toe until Easter day at which time it was returned to the rosebush. This red thread was supposed to protect the wearer. This custom may date back the initiates of the Eleusinian Mysteries at Athens who wore woollen threads to ward off evil.


    In Bulgaria, this is Granny March's Day. Women are forbidden to work today or incur the wrath of Granny March who will call upon the weather to demolish the new crops. Tomorrow is Mother's March.


    Gwyl o Merriddyn is the Feast of Merlin celebrated beginning at sundown. As Dydd Dewi, this day is holy to St. Davis, the patron saint of Wales. The leek and daffodil, representing the vigorous growth of spring, are his emblematic plants.
    Upon Saint David's Day
    put oats and barley in the clay.




    In Scotland, March first thru the third is known as Whuppity Scoorie. Designed to wake Mother Earth from her long wintry nap, Anglo-Saxon and Celtic customs held that people must go out and ritually tap the earth three times with a staff or wand, calling Mother Earth by name and telling her it is time to wake. This is a very rowdy and noisy holiday. Mother is a deep sleeper sometimes. Pennies are thrown out for the children who scramble to pick them up, and participants strike each other with balls of paper tied with string (or bonnets).


    Iduna, Norse goddess of Spring, is honored today.


    The Golden Dawn was founded on this day in 1888.


    The Covenant of the Goddess (COG) was formed in 1975.